Wednesday, November 12, 2014

The True Stories blog tour & giveaway!

As some of you may know (and as evidenced by the fact that this is the first thing on the blog in all of November...), this month is going to be a chaotic one for me. But for those of you not in the know:

From Alice + Freda Forever by Alexis Coe

1) I'm moving, which is difficult at the best of times, but makes you want to cry a lot when you have hundreds and hundreds of books to slog up and down stairs,
2) I was out of town for days on an unexpected work trip (the last of the work for that job, though; whoop whoop!), and
3) I decided to take on NaNoWriMo, because clearly I'm insane.

All of this has meant that I am behind in, well, everything, and so though I had wanted to do a video discussion of these books, Tomboy and Alice + Freda Forever, I can't do that: my camera is packed away, and I've had no time to record anything, anyway. (And I still need to finish Alice & Freda!)

From Tomboy by Liz Prince

But I don't want to just do a regular ole review, either, because I do want to actually talk about these. Tomboy especially. Maybe it's because they're true stories, and so that feels more discussion-worthy, or maybe it's just a mood I'm in, but either way, I have things to say, and I want to say them.
(Also: non-fiction! Yay!!)

So for now, I'm saving my review/discussions of Alice + Freda and Tomboy until I'm settled in my house and can unpack and talk to ya, but trust that whenever something provokes enough of a reaction out of me that I have to actually, physically talk it out, that's a good thing. I like things that make you feel something, that make you have an opinion. So I'm hoping you'll join me in that little discussion when it comes about, but until then, take a look at the two fascinating books below, and then enter to win them!

ABOUT THE BOOKS

Alice + Freda: A Murder in Memphis by Alexis CoeGet It | Add It
223 pages
Published October 7th 2014 by Pulp/Zest Books

In 1892, America was obsessed with a teenage murderess, but it wasn't her crime that shocked the nation—it was her motivation. Nineteen-year-old Alice Mitchell had planned to pass as a man in order to marry her seventeen-year-old fiancée Freda Ward, but when their love letters were discovered, they were forbidden from ever speaking again.

Freda adjusted to this fate with an ease that stunned a heartbroken Alice. Her desperation grew with each unanswered letter—and her father’s razor soon went missing. On January 25, Alice publicly slashed her ex-fiancée’s throat. Her same-sex love was deemed insane by her father that very night, and medical experts agreed: This was a dangerous and incurable perversion. As the courtroom was expanded to accommodate national interest, Alice spent months in jail—including the night that three of her fellow prisoners were lynched (an event which captured the attention of journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells). After a jury of "the finest men in Memphis" declared Alice insane, she was remanded to an asylum, where she died under mysterious circumstances just a few years later.

Growing up, Liz Prince wasn't a girly girl, dressing in pink tutus or playing pretty princess like the other girls in her neighborhood. But she wasn't exactly one of the guys, either. She was somewhere in between. But with the forces of middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance pulling her this way and that, "the middle" wasn't exactly an easy place to be.

Tomboy follows award-winning author and artist Liz Prince through her early years and explores--with humor, honesty, and poignancy--what it means to "be a girl."

****GIVEAWAY****
As part of the True Stories blog tour, Zest Books has offered up winner's choice of Tomboy: a graphic memoir by Liz Prince, or Alice + Freda Forever: a Murder in Memphis by Alexis Coe!
US only, ends November 22 at midnight, EST. Fill out the Rafflecopter to enter.
Good luck!!

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About Me

Fun-loving swf, likes long walks on the beach -- no, wait, that's not right. I don't really know what I want to do with my life at the moment, but I know it will involve books. I am full of contradictions, which I love, and I fully intend to be an eccentric old lady, with cats and sticky hard candy and pink hair. Also, I don't take myself too seriously, which translates as 'I am an utter dumbass,' and that's just the way I like it.
If you're interested in having me review your book, contact me at mbradenwf@gmail.com Please note: my tastes lean heavily toward urban fantasy, paranormal romance, magical realism, sci-fi, and fairy tale retellings. I have events dedicated to fairy tales, Halloween and Jane Austen, and will generally accept books in those categories. And I DO NOT accept e-books.